Mitsubishi e-Evolution Concept to Debut at 2017 Tokyo Motor Show

Can Mitsu get its sport mojo back with this coupe crossover?

It’s been a long time since Mitsubishi introduced a new car that was legitimately fun to drive. Sure, the Lancer Evolution X was technically available new until midway through last year, but it hadn’t actually been new new since 2007. And let’s not even talk about how long it’s been since “VR-4” still meant something. But Mitsubishi seems to want to get a little of that mojo back, so it announced it will bring a new crossover concept to the Tokyo Motor Show.

That’s right. The car Mitsubishi says will help it return “to where it belongs to better embrace the future” is no Lancer Evo. It’s a coupe-like crossover SUV called the e-Evolution Concept. And if you believe the press release, its reveal will mark “a true milestone event in which the corporation will wave the flag under new circumstances to usher a new era of long-term growth and sustainable development.” So the e-Evolution is a pretty big deal, at least for Mitsubishi.

As you can see, the concept gets a low, sporty roofline with aggressively styled taillights and a broken C-pillar that makes the roof look like it’s floating. The rest of the release is light on details, but it does sound like there’s a lot of potential here. Mitsubishi says the e-Evolution combines an electric powertrain with a four-wheel-drive system and some sort of artificial intelligence technology. Regardless of your opinion on coupe-like CUVs, this concept’s drivetrain could end up being pretty cool.

And it’s not like the idea of a sporty Mitsubishi CUV is new. We’ve known for years that Mitsubishi was working on something tall and sporty, and at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, we got a look at the Eclipse Cross CUV that’s set to go on sale soon. But it looks like the e-Evolution will be something even sportier and more aggressively styled. Perhaps Nissan’s recent purchase of Mitsubishi has finally given the struggling Japanese automaker the cash it needs to build something legitimately fun.

Look for the Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept to make its debut toward the end of October at the Tokyo Motor Show.

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